Thanksgiving Day fire closes restaurant

LANCASTER - More than 300 people were forced to change their plans for Thanksgiving dinner because of a fire at a downtown restaurant in Lancaster.

The Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era reports (http://bit.ly/TT2MAe) a clothes dryer in the basement of The Pressroom Restaurant caught fire Thursday as restaurant workers were preparing the 13 turkeys that were to be served for dinner.

General manager Larry Hershey said fire was confined to the dryer but smoke filled the establishment and water from the building's sprinkler system sprayed everywhere.

Hershey said Thanksgiving is one of the restaurant's busiest nights of the year.

The Victorian Queen Anne building has been a Lancaster landmark for nearly a century. The restaurant is known for its newspaper decor.